Versant Power Astronomy Center and Maynard Jordan Planetarium

Obesity and Diabetes are currently global pandemics.  Obesity, and most cases of diabetes, stem from an energy imbalance whereby we take in more calories than we burn.  This simple energy equation is actually quite complex at the physiological level, and involves brain communication with organs and tissues such as the gut, adipose (fat tissue), muscle, and pancreas.  This talk will explore how our body maintains metabolic health, how our nervous system remodels in order to regulate hunger and energy expenditure, and what the research evidence tells us about healthy fats in our diet and on our bodies.

Kristy Townsend, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Neurobiology at University of Maine, and an expert on the neuroscience of energy balance.  Dr. Townsend was previously an Instructor at Harvard Medical School and Joslin Diabetes Center, and received a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Boston University.  The Townsend Lab at UMaine investigates how the brain communicates with adipose (fat) tissue in order to maintain metabolic health, the plasticity and neuropathy of adipose nerves, and how the brain undergoes neural remodeling to regulate energy balance.